


Everything Keeps Pounding Louder

by VoidInkedPen



Category: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon 2018), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Doctor Leonardo (TMNT), Don't you dare touch this Tcesters with a 20 meter pole!!!, Donatello (TMNT) Needs a Hug, Donnie-centric, Family Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, IDK what else to tag but enjoy!, Overstimulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24778864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidInkedPen/pseuds/VoidInkedPen
Summary: Donnie is up late one night when he suddenly feels a migraine coming on. His lack of sleep didn't help him in this situation because what came next only made it worse.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 226





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ollo! Pen here to bring you the first fic I've written... hopefully its entertaining and you all enjoy it~
> 
> I've read a lot of fics and noticed there was a lack of Rise!Donnie fics that dealt with different and important subjects soooooo... ye~

A faint glow of neon blues and purples filled the night time atmosphere of the lair. Everything was calm, or at least it appeared to be. Leo, Raph, and Mikey had gone to bed hours ago and the only ones awake, were master splinter who sat in his recliner watching random entertainment and Donnie who was currently massaging his temples while leaning on his desk.

A subtle headache was coming on and the purple turtle was doing everything he could to stop it before it went full blown migraine on him. A half drunk cup of coffee was sitting nearby and a bottle of Aspirin lay in wait to be used. Donnie hoped he wouldn’t have to come to use the medication but if history told him anything, being up for 24+ hours with no sleep was bound to cause this to happen.

With a sigh, he removed his hands from the side of his head and leaned back in his chair. Donnie had been working on a new device to help with tracking mystic energy for days now and the process was taking longer than he had hoped. From the amount of research he had to do with multiple outings into the mystic city he was starting to get the hang of figuring out what could or couldn’t be mystic. His brothers didn’t think it was completely necessary to go to such lengths just to identify mystic things but Donnie would prefer to be safe rather than sorry. Plus it was fascinating and he wanted to understand more about how it all worked. He was a scientist by nature, of course he’d want to understand more.

As if on cue with the beat of his thoughts, the headache he was catching became noticeably harder to ignore. With dramatic annoyance, Donnie reached out and gave himself the proper dosage and took a big swig of his coffee before returning to his work. He still had a lot to do and didn’t have time to deal with his brain deciding it wanted to pound his head like a bongo drum. It would be a few hours before his brothers came to check on him, and he couldn't waste what precious peace he had.

Slouching forward Donnie began to work again with the mild throb now out of his focus.

\---

A loud crash could be heard from the kitchen which startled Donnie out of his dose. Rubbing his head and giving off a simple yawn he waited for the world to come back into focus. As it did, so did his mild headache which… wasn’t so mild anymore.

It really hurt, much more than your average migraine or headache. Donnie clutched his head and leaned forward, taking short breaths as he waited for the pain to subside. He didn’t notice until his head started to hurt less that his ears were ringing. That was unusual. Headaches weren’t supposed to make you feel such immense pain.

Quickly, Donnie scanned himself with his gauntlet to see what was wrong. The throbbing had subsided again back to a soft thrumb, which unfortunatly meant his scanners couldn’t catch what that was. He sat there for a few more seconds in contemplation before another sound came from the kitchen, this time a yelp from Leo.

Donnies head began to hurt a bit from the noise, which made Donnie realise the crash from earlier was the possible cause for his sudden head splitting pain. Not wanting to dwell on it anymore, the purple turtle grabbed another dose of Aspirin and made his way towards the kitchen.

\---

“Leo, you okay?” Donnie asked as he peered his head around the corner into the kitchen. What he saw was almost comical. Leo had somehow landed in a weird position on the ground that left him prone with his right arm under himself and legs bent over his head. If this was anyone else, Donnie would have been concerned he had a broken bone. But fortunately, Leo was flexible and used to his klutziness so there wasn’t anything to really worry about… except for the beat in his head.

“I guess you could say that” Leo said strained “mind helping a turtle out?” he looked up with a pleading smile towards Donnie. Leo was the only one in the kitchen at the moment, so only Donnie was the witness of his fumble.

“Pray tell, how on earth did you end up in this… position?” Donnie inquired with a smirk as he walked towards his brother.

“Oh well I um… the details don’t matter, just help me up bro” Leo wanted to ignore the question. He didn’t want Donnie to know he was just trying to grab something off the top of the fridge when he slipped.

Donnie knelt down and untangled his pretzal of a brother and helped him stand up before giving a big yawn and stretching. “If you don’t want me to tell the others how I found you, then you better make me a decent breakfast, oh brother of mine” the softshell teased as he walked towards the coffee maker.

“What?! You know I can’t cook as well as Mikey, why should I cook you anything?” Leo asked grumpily as he rubbed his neck

“Then what would you prefer you did for me to make this wadger worth my time?” Donnie raised one of his sharpied eyebrows quizzically, a slight smirk beginning to grow on his face.

Leo looked around the room for a minute in thought before turning to Donnie. “How about I help you with your… what is it a mystic magnet?”

Donnie groaned “a Mystic Identifier Leo… why would I want to draw mystic things TO me?” He grabbed the now fresh pot of coffee and poured it into the mug he had brought down with him.

“I don’t know, for one of your mad science experiments maybe?” Leo sat at the table as he observed his brother drink his mug of practically black liquid.

“... I suppose I could use your help on my next outing” with a sigh, the soft shell sat down across from Leo and began to mess around on his phone.

It didn’t take long for their other brothers to show up, apparently unaware of the loud sounds Leo had created when he was doing acrobatics. The stomp of Raphs feet as he approached was unmistakable as everytime he took a step, Donnie’s head would throb a little in pace.

Mikey scurried in after Raph and began to show off his ‘razzmatazz’ by making them all breakfast. The popping of bacon and the sounds of Raph talking with Leo were not helping with Donnies increasing headache. As he rubbed his temple absently, still looking at his phone, he noticed a strange sensation creep up on him. Like fuzz. Donnie stopped rubbing and froze a little while still looking at his phone. This was… different.

Before he could think about it anymore, Mikey dropped a plate of all their prefered portions of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of each of them. The distraction put the feeling out of Donnies mind for the moment but he figured he should look into that feeling a bit later.

\---

As the rest of the day went along, Donnie felt the on and off sensation of fuzz creeping in when his headache was coming on strong. The more it happened the more it began to worry him. He thought it was just a side effect of an oncoming migraine but the fuzzy tingling throughout his body and the added pain from both his head and occasionally his shell, didn’t match up with symptoms of one. It wasn’t till later that evening that Donnie felt a change. And not for the better.

\---

It was a rather unfortunate outing. They had just been fighting with Hypno and it was a simple fight for the most part. Until Donnie got thrown into a wall. The throbbing from his head amplified after that, and though he tried to subdue it, his head just seemed to want to pound louder and louder.

They were on their way back to the lair for some much needed rest. Donnie walked a few paces behind Raph with Mikey walking alongside him and Leo walked ahead talking about the fight.

“And did you see that sick aerial maneuver? Man I was on fire tonight” Leo praised himself with a cocky grin and Raph just groaned

“Leo, your heads gonna swell up with air if you don’t stop being so full of yourself” Raph grunted with a smirk.

Leo let out a scoff, “Oh c'mon you gotta admit that portal dive I did was pretty sick~” He turned and started walking backwards “I’ve been on a roll baby! Nothing can stop me now!”

Donnie gave off a sly grin, “Do I need to remind you about the incident from this morning Nardo? Or does that not count as part of your ‘roll’?”

“DONNIE!? I thought you said you wouldn’t bring that up!” Leo retorted back quickly with a bit of distress.

“Oh? What happened this mooooorning Leo?” Mikey asked teasingly.

“Ye, I’d like to hear this too, what happened?” Raph chimed in with a toothy grin.

“Nothing happened!” Leo tried to turn away but Raph stopped him by grabbing his shoulder and Mikey began to snicker as Leo fumbled around the questions.

Donnie would have joined in with the teasing but his head started to hurt. Really hurt. Similarly to how it did that morning. It didn’t help that he felt the fuzzy sensation come up again. Reaching up for his head, he closed his eyes, trying to get it to stop pounding. His brothers were oblivious in their banter until Donnie slowly crouched on the ground, holding his head and trying to take calming breaths but were coming out quicker than he intended. Then everything began to feel numb.

\---

Mikey, Raph, and Leo stopped as they looked at their brother now squating on the ground with his head hung and fast breathing.

“...Hey… Donnie?” Leo asked with concern before all 3 of them were crouched down next to him.

His eyes were closed and he was clutching his head with a grimace, trying to breathe calmly but obviously unable to stop the pain. Mikey reached out his hand to place it onto his forehead and check for a fever, but there was nothing.

“... he doesn't seem sick… migraine maybe?” Mikey asked worriedly, turning towards Raph for what to do.

“Not sure… Hey, Donnie can you tell us what's wrong?” Raph asked worriedly but didn’t get a response “Leo, do you know what’s going on? Your the medic”

Leo stared at him with a face completely serious. Slowly he reached out to touch his brother's battle shell. Normally, Donnie would have reacted in some way to the action. Even if the battle shell protected him from harm, he could still somewhat feel when someone was touching it. But Donnie didn’t move. He hadn’t reacted to any of them when they got up close, and this immediately flipped a switch in Leo’s head.

“We need to get him home. Now” Leo said, looking at his brothers.

“What? Leo what’s going on?” Raph asked, looking completely baffled.

“He’s not responding to sensation Raph, either he’s distracted by his head, or something else is wrong. We need to get him back home so I can look at him more closely” Leo stood up as he talked, his hand still resting on Donnies battle shell.

“Did… Did hypno do something when he slammed Donnie into the wall?” Mikey asked, his worry increasing.

“I don’t think this is anything physically related but it could have triggered something… Com’on, we need to get him to stand. He won’t be able to focus on us until we’re back at the lair” Leo gestured to Raph and Mikey who both nodded.

Raph grabbed Donnie’s shoulders and slowly helped him rise back to his feet. Donnie continued to breath quickly and kept his hands clasped on his head. His eyes remained closed. Raph decided Donnie probably wasn’t going to start walking on his own, so he scooped him up into his arms and all of them made their way quickly back to the sewers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second half here we go!

The run back to the lair was uneventful as Raph, Mikey, and Leo quickly brought their unresponsive brother back to his room. Donnies breathing had calmed somewhat but he was still clutching his head and not reacting to his name or any physical contact at all.

Raph gently set Donnie down on his bed in a somewhat sitting position. After he appeared to be steady, Leo gently pushed Raph aside to take a better look at Donnie. After a few pokes and pinches Leo still didn't get a response, which began to worry him even more. He had an idea on what was going on, but needed to confirm it, and that would require Leo to do something he didn’t know if Donnie could handle at the moment. Removing his battle shell.

“Raph, I’m gonna need your help removing his battle shell” Leo said, circling to Donnies left side.

“What? Why?” Raph looked at Leo in confusion.

“Just… help me with this Raph… Please?” Leo looked up at Raph with a look of pure concern. That look alone got a nod from the red turtle.

“What should I do Leo?” Mikey asked, still standing close to the door

“Mikey, can you throw a warm blanket into the dryer for a bit? Make it nice and cozy hot?” Leo returned his attention back to Donnie who was still trying to calm his breathing.

“Uh yeah sure... It should only take a few minutes, I’ll be back quicker than you can say ‘Hot soup!’” Mikey began to walk out of the room before stealing a quick glance at the situation. That single look at Donnie made him quicken his pace and run off to the laundry room.

Raph looked at Leo as he held the latches on his battle shell. When Leo nodded he took a quick breath, then released the latch.

\---

It was all fuzz. His sight, his breath, his hearing, everything was fuzz. Donnie’s head really hurt, and the sensation of feeling like he was underwater was not something he expected from this strange headache. His shell seemed inclined to also start acting up as a few shots of pain ran up his spine every now and then, causing his breath to hitch. Was it a result of mystic energy? He didn’t know. This didn’t seem mystic related.

Donnie opened his eyes for only a moment, and when he did he noticed he was moving. When did that happen? It took Donnie way longer than it should have to realize Raph was carrying him.

‘Wait… why can’t I feel that?’ Donnie thought. A spike of pain hit his head once more and his moment of cognisant thought was gone as his focus returned to his head, and the fuzz.

It felt like only a second had gone by, but when Donnie opened his eyes again he was somehow on his bed in the lair. And Leo was looking at him, or at least he thought it was Leo. Donnie could barely process anything other than that somewhat visible shape of a blue banded green blob before he closed his eyes again.

That’s when he felt it. The first thing he felt this whole time, but it only gave him comfort for a second because he realized what that sensation was. His battle shell. It was being taken off!

Within the same second Raph removed the latches and began to move the battle shell off to the side, Donnie’s head shot up and his breathing went from calm to almost hyperventilating. His eyes were wide and he was on the edge of panic. Leo watched this reaction, and quickly placed his hands on Donnie’s shoulders. He planted himself in Donnie’s direct view and squeezed his shoulders ever so slightly.

A hitch in his breath, and finally Donnie could see clearly again. Leo starred directly back at him with a calming expression.

“Donnie, I’m gonna need you to calm down for me okay?” Leo got a slight nod in response which came as a relief. Donnie was responsive again.

“Alright D, I’m gonna need you to do as I say okay? Breath in for 4 seconds, Hold for 7 seconds, and breath out for 8 seconds okay? Good, keep going…” Leo gently squeezed Donnie’s shoulders every now and then, until his breathing finally calmed down.

It was at that moment, Mikey came back in with a very warm comforter and handed it off to Leo. With a quick ‘thank you’ he took the comforter and wrapped it around Donnie who seemed to calm even more with the sensation. Raph decided Leo had it covered so he told him he was taking Donnie’s battle shell back to the lab and leaving the rest to him. Mikey reluctantly followed Raph out with a glance back at his two brothers before dashing off.

The warmth felt good to Donnie. It seemed to help dissipate the feeling of fuzziness from him as well as sooth the pain he was feeling. It took only a few minutes to register Leo’s touch on his shoulder again.

“Hey Donnie, welcome back to the land of the living” Leo joked half heartedly.

“..... Hey Leo…. What…. What happened?” Donnie asked slowly, looking up at Leo with tired eyes. How did Leo not notice that before?

“Well, you tell me. One minute you’re bantering and teasing me and the next you’re on the ground not responding to anything. You really scared us bro… are you okay?” Leo genuinely wanted to know. If not for his own conscience than to also prove his theory about what happened true.

“...My head started to hurt badly… and then… Everything felt like fuzz” Donnie looked more and more confused as he answered the question. Little did he know he just confirmed Leo’s theory.

“Don. I need you to listen to me for a second.” Leo waited for Donnie to focus his eyes back on him “you were probably having Sensory Overload… I’m not entirely sure what could have triggered it but your migraine and ‘fuzziness’ were definitely symptoms…” Leo searched his brother's eyes but they were blankly staring back at him.

They both sat there in silence for about 10 minutes before the silence was finally broken. As did the look on Donnie’s face.

“S-Sensory Overload?” He looked at Leo with so much shock it was tangible “But… how is that possible? This has never happened before, so how did this happen…”

Leo sighed “Look I don’t really know D, but it could have been stress and fatigue… you haven't been sleeping… have you?” With that second comment Donnie looked away and pulled the blanket more tightly around himself.

“You were up when I fell in the kitchen. You’re usually never up at that time unless you were working in the lab. And from what I can see you haven't slept in more than 24 hours. Am I right?” Leo gave Donnie a knowing look, and from the obvious avoidance of eye contact he figured he hit the nail on the head.

“Alright, well, you obviously need sleep and in order to make sure you don’t run back off to your little lab experiments I’m staying here for the night” Leo smirked at Donnie’s obvious annoyance

“What!? I don’t need a babysitter Leo”

“Oh ye? Well consider this payback for earlier when you told the guys about my fumble. Now, laydown. Imma go grab some stuff to make a pillow bed” Leo walked out of the room before Donnie could protest.

With a groan, Donnie flopped onto his back only to immediately sit back up from the sudden tingly pain emanating from his shell. Well that was new. Gently, Donnie began to rub his shell only to wince at his own touch. His shell really hurt, was it because of his battle shell? After thinking for a moment, Donnie shifted to lay on his stomach. He could still feel the pain from his shell (and head, that incoming migraine was persistent) which caused him to grimace right as Leo returned with a ton of pillows and a first aid kit.

“YEP, thought so” Leo threw down the pillows and made his way over to Donnie’s bed side. Kneeling down, he set the first aid kit down next to him before opening it and grabbing a bottle of pills and container Donnie couldn’t quite recognize. “I figured your battle shell wasn’t helping you and you probably had it on for too long anyway. Man, you should seriously lighten that thing.”

Leo handed Donnie a few painkillers and grabbed a glass of water to help it down. He was about to grab at the comforter on Donnie’s back before he stopped and looked at him.

“Hey… is it okay if I try to massage your shell?” he asked in a soothing tone as Donnie looked over at him with confusion “It might help with the pain… I got some massage cream that should also help with hydrating your shell… is that alright D?”

Donnie searched his eyes for a moment and thought carefully “...I guess… Don’t go overboard though… idk how much my shell can take at the moment” Donnie looked away and released his hold on the blanket which gave Leo his confirmation.

Gently, Leo removed the blanket before placing some of the cream onto his hands. He gave Donnie another concerned look before he gently placed his hands on Donnies shell. This action resulted in an immediate wince from the softshell, but he held back as Leo began to slowly and lightly massage small circles into his shell. The sensation slowly went from pain to a soothing warmth and after a few minutes of this, Donnie fell asleep.

Leo smiled and massaged his shell for a few more minutes before gently putting the comforter back on. With that, Leo set to making his pillow bed next to Donnie and settled down for the night. With one last glance at his sound asleep brother, he sighed “Goodnight Donnie” and curled up in his blanket with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! comments are very much appreciated and critiques or typos that come to your attention would help greatly


End file.
